Recent reports have indicated that Tesla Manufacturing Mexico has requested environmental permits from Mexico’s Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources. The permits are expected to be related to the construction of an industrial warehouse in the municipality of Santa Catarina, Nuevo Leon.
Gigafactory Mexico, which was formally confirmed by CEO Elon Musk during Tesla’s Investor Day event earlier this year, is tasked with the production of the company’s next-generation electric car. While details on the upcoming vehicle have barely been shared by Tesla, expectations are high that it would start at around $25,000.
As noted in a Forbes Mexico report, the filings for the project provided some interesting tidbits about the facility, as well as the land where it will be built.
“On July 31, 2023, it presented the elements (to) carry out the construction of a warehouse for the automotive industry, in an area of 260 hectares with a type of vegetation of rosetophyllous desert scrub and microphyllous desert scrub, on a property adjacent to the highway Monterrey-Saltillo, in the municipality of Santa Catarina,” the filing noted.
If the recent reports are any indication, it would appear that the first part of Tesla’s Giga Mexico construction would include the buildout of the industrial warehouse. This part of the project is expected to cost about $90 million, a rather small fraction of the electric vehicle maker’s estimated investment of about $5 billion.
While the environmental permits for Tesla Mexico’s warehouse are interesting, the company may have already received some preliminary permits for the construction of the electric vehicle factory. This was hinted at by the presence of heavy equipment at the Giga Mexico site, which was recently observed by local media outlets.
Previous reports have suggested that Tesla is expected to start vehicle production at Giga Mexico around Q1 2025. This would be a bit later than initially intended, but still quite impressive considering that Giga Mexico would be producing a completely new vehicle that’s yet to be unveiled today.
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